Weekend Update: Six Flags Terminator, Hong Kong Disneyland, and Psychedelic Desert
I got so busy last week that I failed to recognize a very special occasion. Last week's Weekend Update marked my first anniversary as your humble editor. What a ride it has been! We have taken fifty-two trips around the world together! It seems only fitting on this auspicious occasion to thank my fantastic crew of photographers and contributors – you make my job as editor both easy and fascinating. Thanks also to my readers – I look forward to your comments each week.
This week's Weekend Update offers a crazy, zig-zaggy itinerary around the world. First up, we'll take a backstage peek at a new coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain, courtesy of sir clinksalot and Fishbulb. Then we take a springy visit to Hong Kong Disneyland thanks to TDLFAN. Denise nbodyhome Preskitt catches Walt Disney World's new attraction(?) Characters in Flight actually in flight.
Our very own psychedelic MiceChat couple, Lisa and Tim Pratt document a psychedelic art exhibit in the deserts of Arizona. Finally, Ian Parkinson takes us on a very different kind of thrill ride on a river in New Zealand.
Welcome to the Weekend Update!
Terminator Salvation: The Ride
Six Flags Magic Mountain
sir clinksalot and Fishbulb bring us backstage views of the new Six Flags Magic Mountain Terminator Salvation Construction:
Quote:
If you dare, climb aboard Terminator® Salvation™: The Ride, presented by Jeep —
a journey that begins at Six Flags Magic Mountain and transports you into a desolate future to battle alongside a post-apocalyptic legion of soldiers.
With five belly-flopping hills and six high speed banked turns, Terminator® Salvation™: The Ride combines state-of-the-art technology with the classic heart-pounding thrills of a wooden roller coaster.
Get ready for an eruption of sights and sounds to drop and turn you straight into the confines of artificially intelligent lethal machines, in one final attempt to save human kind.
Come take on our 16th coaster, Terminator® Salvation™: The Ride — OPENING SPRING.
a journey that begins at Six Flags Magic Mountain and transports you into a desolate future to battle alongside a post-apocalyptic legion of soldiers.
With five belly-flopping hills and six high speed banked turns, Terminator® Salvation™: The Ride combines state-of-the-art technology with the classic heart-pounding thrills of a wooden roller coaster.
Get ready for an eruption of sights and sounds to drop and turn you straight into the confines of artificially intelligent lethal machines, in one final attempt to save human kind.
Come take on our 16th coaster, Terminator® Salvation™: The Ride — OPENING SPRING.
Overview from the Jet Stream Lift Hill
Heading Backstage for some shots you will never be able to get again
The Bridge on the left will be where the entrance is located.
Probably won't be able to see Deja Vu much longer from this angle.
Or the Sky Tower.
Twisty, Twisty goodness.
The lift hill and turn around into the first drop.
More Twisty goodness.
This will be the beginning or end of the station fly-through.
Much more wood is ready to go up.
Where in the world is TDLFAN this week?
He checks in with a wonderful new photo report on Spring at Hong Kong Disneyland.
Disneyland Hong Kong
Hong Kong, China
Spring time has arrived at Hong Kong Disneyland... and the weather is slowly turning warm as humidity begins to increase... which means ...flowers bloom, enhancing the overall beauty of our baby disney park in China.
Newly installed character banners welcome guests on the Disney Promenade.
Welcome to Hong King Disneyland!
New banners on Main Street to celebrate "Star Guest", and that could be anyone in particular visiting the park today!
Sing with me.. "We're walking right down the Middle of Main Street US...Aaaaaaay!"
The Mice greet the humans.
Town Square.
The Emporium.
Cool painting inside the Emporium.
Many cool sweets can be found inside the Bakery.
..And the Band Played on.
A favorite TDLFAN spot: the Corner Cafe.
Plaza Inn... pink.
Colorful Hub gardens.
TDLFAN's favorite woodsy trail at HKDL.
Many wonderful things can be seen in this lush version of Adventureland..
The Flora in the park is spectacular and sometimes very unique to HKDL.
Adventureland is a lush paradise in HKDL.. with hidden water trails and small waterfalls... just lovely.
The Jungle Cruise sails past Tarzan's Treehouse.
TDLFAN's favorite garden at HKDL is in Fantasyland.
Cinderella's Carousel.
The Royal Banquet is a fairytale eatery. A must see when visiting HKDL.
Pooh gets blown away inside Pooh's Corner Gift shop.
Fantastic..
The train whisks past IASW.
Main Street at dusk...
Belle and Aurora meet a young fan.
Mood around Main Street USA is relaxed at this time of the evening...
The Castle looks lovely as the lights come on...
Elegant facades all around us... and we are getting hungry.
Mood and casual dinning inside the glass canopy at the Corner Cafe.
Spaghetti Bolognese for dinner..
Followed by a decadent crepes a la mode for dessert. Yum!!
"Disney in the Stars" fireworks bring the evening to a classic Disney happy ending.
Oooh.. Aaah!
The night turns to day as we say "Good night" to Hong Kong Disneyland.
This week, Denise nbodyhome Preskitt manages to catch the Characters in Flight in actual flight (but not yet open!) She also treats us to a few more sights around EPCOT as seen through her keen eye!
You can see more of Denise's work at her site: Mousesteps.com.
Walt Disney World
Orlando, Florida
One of 4 videos she has of Characters in Flight in the air:
At Epcot, a reflection of Spaceship Earth:
Butterfly in the Butterfly tent:
Canada:
Aladdin in Morocco is a resting place for a lizard:
This week, MiceChatters Lisa and Tim Pratt take us to a stunning gem in the desert, which not only is home to compelling natural plants, but is also currently featuring renowned artist Dale Chihuly.
Desert Botanical Garden
Phoenix, Arizona
At Phoenix's Desert Botanical Garden, in his Nature of Glass exhibit, his innovative glass sculptures are interspersed with the natural landscape, to stunning effect.
Quote:
Nestled amid the red buttes of Papago Park, the Desert Botanical Garden hosts one of the world’s finest collections of desert plants. One of only 44 botanical gardens accredited by the American Association of Museums, this one-of-a-kind museum showcases 50 acres of beautiful outdoor exhibits. Home to 139 rare, threatened and endangered plant species from around the world, the Garden offers interesting and inspiring experiences to more than 300,000 visitors each year.
Look carefully . . . can you see it?
Looking for up-to-date reports from Disneyland
including photos, gossip, park schedules and more?
including photos, gossip, park schedules and more?
Visit these MiceChat columns each week:
Andy Castro's Dateline Disneyland
David DarkBeer Michael's In the Parks
Ian's back this week with photos from Huka Falls. The Huka Falls Jet boat looks appears to be a thrill ride like no other!
Huka Falls
Lake Taupo, New Zealand
Quote:
Hukafalls Jet in Taupo, offers a unique combination of excitement and natural beauty. A 30-minute thrilling jet boat ride in the hands of a down-to-earth, funny professional jet boat driver who can make a jet boat do things you would never believe possible.
The half hour of thrills, fun and excitement takes you along a beautiful river environment, lined with native bush, sheer rock cliff face and natural hot springs.
Combine 360° spins and passing nature by incredibly close at disorientating speeds for an amazing must-do visitor experience, before even reaching the awe inspiring majesty that is the Huka Falls. From the unique vantage point on the jet boat you have the best water level view of Huka Falls – New Zealand’s most visited natural attraction. Hukafalls Jet is the only jet boat company operating in this stretch of the Waikato River and offers one of the best jet boat rides in New Zealand.
The half hour of thrills, fun and excitement takes you along a beautiful river environment, lined with native bush, sheer rock cliff face and natural hot springs.
Combine 360° spins and passing nature by incredibly close at disorientating speeds for an amazing must-do visitor experience, before even reaching the awe inspiring majesty that is the Huka Falls. From the unique vantage point on the jet boat you have the best water level view of Huka Falls – New Zealand’s most visited natural attraction. Hukafalls Jet is the only jet boat company operating in this stretch of the Waikato River and offers one of the best jet boat rides in New Zealand.
And that brings us to the end of another week. Our photographers have just enough time to reload their cameras before we see you all again next weekend. Thank you to all of our wonderful readers, and as always, a huge thank you to our amazing team of global photographers, spies, and gossips:
TDLFAN
Denise nbodyhome Preskitt (mousesteps.com)
SummerInFl (wdwfanpics.com)
sir clinksalot
MickeyMaxx
BigPigletFan
Abominable Snowman
"Postcard Junkie" darkfairycthulu (postcardjunkie.blogspot.com)
Fishbulb
Ian Parkinson
PhotoMatt
Jack Hollywood 1939 Wixom
A very special thank you to to our wonderful guest photographers Lisa and Tim Pratt for sharing their vision with us.
Your Editor - Rixter
Where have YOU been recently? We invite you to share your photos of theme parks or any other destination that may be of interest to our readers. Please feel free to contact me via MiceChat Private Message (screen name Rixter)
or send me an email: oceansiderick@gmail.com.
or send me an email: oceansiderick@gmail.com.
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Total Comments 20
Comments
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Nice pictures! This is one of my first glimpses into HKDL. I also especially enjoyed the pictures of Dale Chihuly's art.Posted 04-04-2009 at 01:13 AM by MarkTwain
- Those pictures of the desert art and flora are stunning.
That ricketty balloon ride at WDW and the fast and furious boat ride in New Zealand look absolutely terrifying. I do not think I will line up for those two experiences. This could be the scariest Weekend Update yet!! Can't wait to ride the Terminator woody coaster at MM!! Now that looks like a lot of fun!Posted 04-04-2009 at 01:59 AM by TDLFAN -
oooh i'm so jealous, i want to see all the chihuly pieces in person!
nice series on hkdl. i don't know much about the youngest and smallest park. hk is a place i'd like to visit some day though, so a stop in the park would be essential.Posted 04-04-2009 at 02:17 AM by twobluestripes -
GCI builds great wooden coasters (Thunderhead at Dollywood and the Ozark Wildcat at recently closed Celebration City being two of the best examples). This new Terminator coaster looks like it will continue the trend. Pretty neat idea to build the whole thing on a bed of concrete. I do hope Six Flags is going to do something to clean up the area around the coaster - it looks a little weed-ridden and sparse. Oh well, I guess landscaping is always the last thing to be accomplished when putting in a new ride!Posted 04-04-2009 at 07:15 AM by bigwig30
Updated 04-04-2009 at 07:22 AM by bigwig30 -
Enjoyable update as always, much appreciated!Posted 04-04-2009 at 08:30 AM by BC_DisneyGeek -
Great pictures everyone!
Happy Anniversary!Posted 04-04-2009 at 08:54 AM by WheresMickey 
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bigwig30, all of the weeds and such are on the back-stage part of the ride, and probably won't be too visible while screaming through the course at 50mph.
Great update this week. The desert stuff was amazing. Truly a unique experience.Posted 04-04-2009 at 09:10 AM by sir clinksalot -
There's a cool video at the jet boat website. I think it might be Taupo and Rotorua for Christmas this year...Posted 04-04-2009 at 01:13 PM by Bryce05 - Quote:Thanks also to my readers – I look forward to your comments each week.
Thanks for looking out and right back at you.Posted 04-04-2009 at 05:41 PM by toemblem - Great pictures this week!
Chihuly's work is certainly impressive (and Phoenix might be some of the best I've seen). He's also done the glass flower ceiling in the main lobby in the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas, and there is a shop of his merchandise in the hotel, as well.
Also, Chihulu is quite a character, making his presence on Micechat remarkably appropriate...
Posted 04-04-2009 at 05:51 PM by NathanScott86 -
Thanks for the update.Posted 04-04-2009 at 05:56 PM by Barbossa -
Such great pictures!
TDLFan love the picture of the child with Princesses.Posted 04-04-2009 at 08:05 PM by TravisMT81 -
Such amazing and beautiful pictures! HKDL looks like a must-visit for me sometime, right after DLP and DisneySeas...
The jet boat ride looks WAY cool! Why aren't there thrills like that in So Cal?!
And the Six Flags update was great. Can't wait to ride Psyclone again (j/k). Thanks for the update!Posted 04-04-2009 at 08:37 PM by JAG107 - Oh Travis dear, you are such a softy!!Posted 04-04-2009 at 09:25 PM by TDLFAN
- Great pictures, a few comments - the Terminator coaster in wood? It seems better suited to be a chrome steel coaster.
I think the paint colors on the HKDL Emporium are the original colors of the Emporium in DL, I like the original colors better.
The Corner Cafe looks nice, it's the location of the Photo Center in DL, right?
Thanks for the pictures of the caucasian princesses, do they speak Chinese? (Or Japanese in TDL?)Posted 04-04-2009 at 10:31 PM by Disneykin Kid -
The woodwork on the new Magic Mountain Coaster is beautiful, like sculpture.Posted 04-05-2009 at 02:04 AM by Gullywhumper - I loved the "hidden Mickey" cactus plant.Posted 04-05-2009 at 05:58 AM by whamo
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Great Pictures
Love the ones in Desert Botanical GardenPosted 04-05-2009 at 12:35 PM by Eagleman -
Very wonderful photos this week! HKDL is really beautiful. Thanks for the trip around the world each week!Posted 04-05-2009 at 01:23 PM by xalesa - The Corner Cafe is the last building on the right side of Main Street before you get to the hub. That's right side if you are facing the castle. It's this close to Tomorrowland's Starliner Diner.Quote:Originally Posted by Disneykin KidThe Corner Cafe looks nice, it's the location of the Photo Center in DL, right?
Thanks for the pictures of the caucasian princesses, do they speak Chinese? (Or Japanese in TDL?)
As for the Princesses, they may know chinese or japanese in HKDL or TDL.. but most of these performers are foreigners under contract. They all speak english, and if they do know some of the local language, it could be they learned it on their own time. However, some of these performers on stage may have to lip-sync to some of the local languages a lot. This happens at TDR quite often since most shows are in japanese. I would assume that to pull this off, they have to learn at least the meaning of what they are saying and the phonetics of the lines they have to play out.Posted 04-08-2009 at 02:05 AM by TDLFAN
